Until the end
by Tempted Sacrifice
Summary: The story of Severus Snape until his last breath. *Rated T to be safe. One shot


_This tale isn't of happy love,_

_And doesn't end with a "...happily ever after."_

Ҩ

Once upon a time, there was a young boy, with the darkest eyes and the fairest complexion. His dark hair hung around his face, like a curtain of oily tresses. When you looked upon his form, you would see a beaten boy, someone who had been defeated a long time ago.

But one day, a beautiful girl, with fiery red hair and bright green eyes walked down the path which led to a broken down playground. On the broken swing, the boy sat, dragging his feet on the ground, silent tears falling down his pale cheeks.

A twig broke, when the girl took a step forward, and as the boy looked up, the girl stood paralyzed on the spot, eyes wide and fearful as she watched the shimmering rage in the depth of those black orbs. He flinched at her look, gripping the iron tightly, closing his eyes. His shoulders slumped, and he dipped his head, a veil of black hair hiding him.

The girl took a tentative step forward, cautiously stretching out her hand when she was close enough.

"Hello, my name is Lily Evans."

Silence hung like a tight cord in the air between them, and as the boy looked up, shock was evident in his features, and a frown marred his face, creasing the skin above his brows. Minutes ticked by, and as the girl was about to drop her hand, long fingers wrapped around her petite ones, holding it loosely.

"Severus Snape."

From that day on, these two spent every waking minute in the presence of one and another. The boy's feelings changed over time, and when he was eleven years of age, the fear he'd felt when he first met the girl had morphed into love. He wanted to spend every second of his day with her, but he held back, not wanting to scare away the first and only friend he had.

But something made the two of them stand out from other children, and the summer of 1971 they got a letter each, from the prestigious school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Hogwarts. Both boy and girl were magical.

They were excited, and the boy hoped that once they arrived to the vast castle, she would somehow learn to love him as he loved her.

Things didn't turn out quite as he had hoped.

"Slytherin."

He became a member of the most hated house in the school.

"Gryffindor."

She became a part of the brave and courageous.

They were destined to hate each other, but going against everyone else, they stayed friends. James Potter, a young boy in Gryffindor had taken a liking to the red-haired girl, and decided that she would one day become his. But the Slytherin boy was in the way, and thus he, and his best friend, Sirius Black started bullying the black-haired boy.

Humiliated in front of the girl he loved, he was drawn to the Dark Arts, hoping that it would impress his love. But it only served to push her away, and into the arms of his nemesis, the Golden Gryffindor boy.

One incident, one word was all it took to make her turn completely.

"Mudblood."

As soon as the word had escaped his mouth, he had wanted to take it back. For weeks to no end, he followed her, and apologized to her every chance he got. But she never looked his way again, and his heart broke, shattering into a thousand pieces.

He wasn't popular among his peers, for being a Half-blood, and he became very lonely. So when a boy approached him, telling him vaguely about a man who wanted recruits, he accepted eagerly, wanting to be a part of something, to have people who appreciated him.

Soon he learned to regret his choice, when he heard a prophecy. The Dark Lord had two families to choose from. Two boys who could be his downfall.

When he heard that the Dark Lord would go after Lily Potter née Evans and James Potter, his heart started beating loudly in his chest. It was in near frenzy that he crawled on his knees to the one man who could help him, begging that the small family of three would be sent into hiding.

Albus Dumbledore wasn't trustful of him, but Severus Snape didn't back down. He even shed tears, his heart jumping out of his chest at the thought of a dead Lily.

No matter what they did, the Dark Lord found them, and they were killed. But somehow, the boy survived the Killing Curse, and Lord Voldemort disappeared.

He blamed himself for the death of his beloved, because if he hadn't told his master about the prophecy, she would've been safe and alive.

"When the time comes, I want you to do everything in your power to aide young Harry Potter."

With a curt nod and a whispered _I promise_, the now grown up man marched out of the office. His black robes billowed behind him, and he dipped his head as he turned the corner, a tear falling down on the stone below him.

As years passed, the black-haired man continued mourning the loss of Lily inwardly. On the outside, all everyone else could see was a stoic man with soulless eyes and a frown always marring his skin, and a hooked nose shadowing a large part of his face.

On September 1st 1990, a young boy with black tousled hair and bright green eyes walked through the doors of the Great Hall. When the Potion Master first laid his eyes on the spawn of James Potter, he felt hate shoot through his body like venom. But a small part of him felt a pang of guilt and pain, seeing those green orbs that he dreamed of every night.

Nothing was ever the same since Harry Potter started at Hogwarts. The black-haired man hardly got any sleep at all, always following the young boy, hiding in the shadows, watching every move that the boy took.

He was nothing but trouble, the young Gryffindor. Always into trouble with his two friends, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley; acting as if he didn't care that Lily had lost her life so that he could live.

Every year a new bunch of danger surrounded the boy, and Severus Snape got more cruel and vicious, feeling the fatigue seep in his bones. But worse it became, when the Dark Lord rose once again.

Walking on needles, he did. Acting as a spy to the Order of the Phoenix, without betraying his true loyalties to anyone was a hard task. But he pulled it off, and everyone believed that he was a Death Eater, a supporter of Lord Voldemort.

It became harder to do so, but he still managed to fool everyone.

While being the Headmaster of Hogwarts School and Wizardry, he tried to protect the students, without alerting anyone of what he was doing. But the hardest task was to aid Harry Potter and his friends in their hunt for Horcruxes, and he had to admit that he didn't do as much as he could have.

May 2nd 1998, the day of the Battle arrived, and halfway through, the Dark Lord ordered him to go to the Shrieking Shack. When he arrived, the tall man stood proudly in the small room, his snake coiling by his feet, hissing occasionally.

"Kill him."

Fangs sank through the warm flesh of his neck, and he tumbled to the ground, struggling to breathe, clawing at his throat with his fingers.

"And now, I am in full possession of the Elder Wand."

The man and the snake left the room, leaving him to die. He always knew that the day would come, when he would die. And he knew that he would be as lonely as he had been during his whole existence.

"Professor Snape."

His eyes snapped open, seeing the green eyes of Lily shining down at him, and he could feel his lips quirk upwards, into a half-smile. But it wasn't his beloved staring at him, but her son, the boy he had promised to protect until his last breath.

Shakily pointing his wand at his temple, he concentrated on certain memories, extracting a long silvery-blue string.

"Take it." He rasped, and watched through hooded eyes as the boy poured to substance into a vial and pocketed it.

He heard Potter murmur something, but he couldn't concentrate, the snake-venom coursing through his body, excruciating pain licking at his insides. Blood coated his upper body, and he could feel the warm liquid seep out from the two punctures on his flesh, trickling down on the dust that was layered on the floor beneath him.

In the distance, he could hear footsteps fading away, and he knew that he was alone again. Tears sprung up in his eyes, and he let his head roll to the side, with trembling hands fumbling through the pockets of his robes until he found what he was looking for.

His fingers wrapped around the object, letting his hand fall to his side.

One last breath escaped his thin lips, before his body went limp. On the floor, next to his hand, a moving picture of a red-haired woman was displayed. Mirth shone in her bright green eyes, and her mouth curved into a big smile.

Until the very end, Severus Snape loved Lily Evans.


End file.
